Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her 
sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once 
or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was 
reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 
`and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without 
pictures or conversation?'

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she 
could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and 
stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain 
would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking 
the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink 
eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did 
Alice think it so VERY much out of the way to hear the 
Rabbit say to itself, `Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be 
late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred 
to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at 
the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the 
Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT- 
POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice 
started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind 
that she had never before see a rabbit with either 
a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, 
and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field 
after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it 
pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once 
considering how in the world she was to get out again.

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some 
way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that 
Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself 
before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, 
for she had plenty of time as she went down to look 
about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. 
First, she tried to look down and make out what she was 
coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she 
looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they 
were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and t
here she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took 
down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it 
was labelled `ORANGE MARMALADE', but to her great 
disappointment it way empty: she did not like to drop 
the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put 
it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.

`Well!' thought Alice to herself, `after such a fall as 
this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! 
How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't 
say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of 
the house!' (Which was very likely true.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! 
`I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she 
said aloud. `I must be getting somewhere near the centre 
of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand 
miles down, I think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt 
several things of this sort in her lessons in the 
schoolroom, and though this was not a VERY good opportunity 
for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to 
listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) `
--yes, that's about the right distance--but then I wonder 
what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no 
idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but 
thought they were nice grand words to say.)

Presently she began again. `I wonder if I shall fall 
right THROUGH the earth! How funny it'll seem to come 
out among the people that walk with their heads downward! 
The Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad there 
WAS no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound 
at all the right word) `--but I shall have to ask 
them what the name of the country is, you know. 

Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' 
(and she tried to curtsey as she spoke--fancy 
CURTSEYING as you're falling through the air! Do you 
think you could manage it?) `And what an ignorant 
little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll 
never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written 
up somewhere.'

Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so 
Alice soon began talking again. Dinah'll miss me very 
much to-night, I should think!' (Dinah was the cat.) 
`I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. 
Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! 
There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you 
might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you 
know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?' And here Alice 
began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to 
herself, in a dreamy sort of way, `Do cats eat bats? 
Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, `Do bats eat cats?' 
for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, 
it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt 
that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream 
that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and 
saying to her very earnestly, `Now, Dinah, tell me 
the truth: did you ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, 
thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks 
and dry leaves, and the fall was over.

Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her 
feet in a moment: she looked up, but it was all dark 
overhead; before her was another long passage, and the 
White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. 
There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice 
like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, 
as it turned a corner, `Oh my ears and whiskers, 
how late it's getting!' She was close behind it 
when she turned to corner, but the Rabbit was no 
longer to be seen: she found herself in a long, 
low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging 
from the roof.

There were doors all round the hall, but they were 
all locked; and when Alice had been all the way 
down one side and up the other, trying every door, 
she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how 
she was ever to get out again.

Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, 
all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it 
except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought 
was that it might belong to one of the doors of 
the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too 
large, or the key was too small, but at any rate 
it would not open any of them. However, on the 
second time round, she came upon a low curtain 
she had not noticed before, and behind it was a 
little door about fifteen inches high: she tried 
the little golden key in the lock, and to her 
great delight it fitted!

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a 
small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she 
knelt down and looked along the passage into the 
loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to 
get out of that dark hall, and wander about among 
those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, 
but she could not even get her head though the doorway; 
`and even if my head would go through,' thought poor 
Alice, `it would be of very little use without my 
shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a 
telescope! I think I could, if I only know how to 
begin.' For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things 
had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think 
that very few things indeed were really impossible.

There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little 
door, so she went back to the table, half hoping 
she might find another key on it, or at any rate a 
book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: 
this time she found a little bottle on it, (`which 
certainly was not here before,' said Alice,) and 
round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, 
with the words `DRINK ME' beautifully printed on 
it in large letters.

It was all very well to say `Drink me,' but the wise 
little Alice was not going to do THAT in a hurry. 
`No, I'll look first,' she said, `and see whether 
it's marked "poison" or not'; for she had read 
several nice little histories about children who 
had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other 
unpleasant things, all because they WOULD not remember 
the simple rules their friends had taught them: such 
as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if your hold 
it too long; and that if you cut your finger VERY 
deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had 
never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle 
marked `poison,' it is almost certain to disagree 
with you, sooner or later.

However, this bottle was NOT marked `poison,' so Alice 
ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, 
in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, 
pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) 
she very soon finished it off.

`What a curious feeling!' said Alice; `I must be 
shutting up like a telescope.'

And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches 
high, and her face brightened up at the thought that 
she was now the right size for going though the little 
door into that lovely garden. First, however, she 
waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to 
shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about 
this; `for it might end, you know,' said Alice to 
herself, `in my going out altogether, like a candle. 
I wonder what I should be like then?' And she tried 
to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after 
the candle is blown out, for she could not remember 
ever having seen such a thing.

After a while, finding that nothing more happened, 
she decided on going into the garden at once; but, 
alas for poor Alice! when she got to the door, she 
found he had forgotten the little golden key, and 
when she went back to the table for it, she found 
she could not possibly reach it: she could see it 
quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her 
best to climb up one of the legs of the table, but 
it was too slippery; and when she had tired herself 
out with trying, the poor little thing sat down and 
cried.

`Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said 
Alice to herself, rather sharply; `I advise you to 
leave off this minute!' She generally gave herself 
very good advice, (though she very seldom followed 
it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely 
as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she 
remembered trying to box her own ears for having 
cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing 
against herself, for this curious child was very fond 
of pretending to be two people. `But it's no use now,'
 thought poor Alice, `to pretend to be two people! Why, 
there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable 
person!'

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying 
under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very 
small cake, on which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully 
marked in currants. `Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, 
`and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; 
and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the 
door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I 
don't care which happens!'

She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, 
`Which way? Which way?', holding her hand on the top 
of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she 
was quite surprised to find that she remained the same 
size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats 
cake, but Alice had got so much into the way of 
expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, 
that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go 
on in the common way.

So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.